Two members of the Orange Unified School District board have been removed by parents who opposed a policy requiring school staff to out transgender kids.

Two members of the Orange Unified School District board have been removed by parents who opposed a policy requiring school staff to out transgender kids.

Parents in Southern California have voted to remove two conservative school board members after they spearheaded a policy that forcibly outs transgender students to their guardians.

Members of the Orange Unified School District board voted 4-0 to enact the policy in September. It was passed at 11:30 p.m., after the three opposed members walked out and withheld their votes.

The policy states that parents must be notified when a student seeks “to be identified as a gender other than the student’s biological sex or gender listed on the student’s birth certificate or any other official records.” This includes names, nicknames, and pronouns, and applies even if the student hasn’t taken action but has discussed the matter with a counselor.

…

At the initial meeting in September, the board was overwhelmed by crowds who showed up to either protest or support the policy. However, the majority of the attendees voicing support did not have children in the district’s schools, and most were not residents of the area, according to the Times.

  • stembolts@programming.dev
    505·
    9 months ago

    Lotta text to say you don’t create an environment where children feel safe talking to you.

    Lemme show you what we see when we read your post.

    1. Kids wanna be autonomous, I expect that they’ll do it wrong and I’ll then enforce my corrections.
    2. I didn’t teach communication to an adequate level with my children so they have meltdowns, I think this is normal.
    3. Kids should give parents more chances. Seriously kids, give me more chances. Another chance please, another chance.

    Obviously I’m taking massive liberties with your text, but so are you with every other family that isn’t yours. Doesn’t feel nice does it? That’s one reason why all of your posts are disliked.

      • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        23·
        9 months ago

        Is drug use any different than what? Kids wanting to go by a different name? Or self-harming?

        On all 3, being required to tell the parents is a big issue as the parents might be a part of the problem. Plus, requiring staff snitch on kids is a great way to get kids to never tell anybody that they’re having problems and just bottle it up inside until it festers into some kind of breakdown or long-lasting mental health issue. My mom was a guidance counselor for many years, and she had to make plenty of house calls with CPS in tow.

        Sometimes, kids need the help or advice of a third-party adult that they trust who isn’t their parents or their friends’ parents. Hell, in my 20s, I was a manager at a fish market, and even I played that role many times. Oftentimes, it was as innocuous as distracting an earnest and loving mom so that she would stop trying to answer questions for her kids during their interview with the boss instead of letting them answer for themselves, or helping them work up the courage to tell their parents something important like that they’re gay. But if I had broken their confidence and told their parents? The kids who asked me for advice on stuff like how to quickly save money so that they could get an apartment when they turned 18 because their mom was kicking them out of the house would’ve never dared come forward with that.

        Demanding teachers put the feelings of some parents above the wellbeing of the most vulnerable kids by not letting them use their own judgment to do what’s best for each kid on a case by case basis isn’t the right way to go about this.

      • BreakDecks@lemmy.mlEnglish
        232·
        9 months ago

        Are you arguing that exploring gender identity is similar to getting addicted to drugs? This is a very stupid take…

      • stembolts@programming.dev
        141·
        9 months ago

        Your statement is extremely open-ended so it is impossible to know what you mean by this, so I can only answer generically.

        Yes, drug use is different for various reasons.

        A granular example is that some drugs, such as cannabis, limit brain development permanently when consumed below a certain age. Other drugs have similar impact. Since this causes measurable damage to a child’s development, it is different.

        If there is a connection between a child wanting to keep information about their perception of themselves private from their care giver and the damage caused by some intoxicants I am failing to see it and would appreciate more insight into your rationale.

        Finally, unrelated to your reply at all… I am realizing that autonomy itself is seen as harming a child by many parents. Controlling parents are not a new thing, so this is not surprising to me, but I think if we were to boil down opposition to this, in most cases, we would be left with, “I don’t see my child as a potential adult, I see them as a subservient to be controlled.”

        The way to raise children to be functioning adults is to offer them the same respect, freedom, and autonomy that they will have when they arrive at adulthood. Does that mean let them do whatever they want? Obviously no. But there does seem to be an astonishingly large population that doesn’t seem to see their own children as being separate from their parents. Differing experiences, views, challenges that the parent has no idea how to deal with, or at worst, is openly hostile towards. Children are the experts on themselves, parents are mentors to guide the way, but many parents seem to treat their children as prisoners and their home as a comfortable prison. A comfortable prison is still a prison, and the prisoner will notice whether it be now or when they are older and start discussing their childhood with friends.

        In short, children are far more aware than many give them credit and will develop into that awareness with confidence if guided by gentle mentorship. Or they will grow through the prison floor like a pissed-off dandelion if restrained.

        I’m not a writer, open to critique always.

      • dustyData@lemmy.worldEnglish
        403·
        9 months ago

        The only one sounding dumb here is you. Someone gives an honest, respectful and transparent appraisal of how your arguments sound in public and this is your reaction. I wouldn’t want to be your kid and if I were I wouldn’t want to talk to you either.

            • GladiusB@lemmy.world
              224·
              9 months ago

              You have zero evidence to support that claim. It is purely anticdotal and not even close to realistic.

                • GladiusB@lemmy.world
                  321·
                  9 months ago

                  I am not saying that at all. Re read what I wrote. I said that not giving parents a chance is not fair to the parent.

                  • BreakDecks@lemmy.mlEnglish
                    132·
                    9 months ago

                    This isn’t a bad argument in isolation, I’ll give you that much, but in the context of outing queer students to their potentially intolerant and abusive parents, while prohibiting any nuance to actually protect students from abuse (even if the kid tells you) is a horrific idea that will absolutely hurt vulnerable kids. Not trusting teachers to make the right call and punishing them if they try to protect a child from parental abuse isn’t fair to the teachers or the affected students. Fuck your right-wing “parental rights” bullshit, enroll your kid in a private Christian school if you’re so hellbent on repressing them.

                    The fact that you are so hung up on gender identity specifically suggests that you understand this fully, hold hatred against queer people, and want to see kids forced into the closet or exposed to abuse by these measures. That you understand the discriminatory intent, and agree with it.

                    That you’re such a piece of shit to everyone criticizing you basically confirms it.

                    Just go back to Reddit where you belong.

              • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
                163·
                9 months ago

                Outing trans and gay kids to transphobic and homophobic parents has zero evidence that it causes real harm and puts those kids in danger? I’m gonna need some sources on that. The suicide rates and rates of homelessness among LGBT youth say otherwise.

          • dustyData@lemmy.worldEnglish
            242·
            9 months ago

            Lol, I will tell this story to my mom and she will laugh at you. Then 20 minutes later we won’t even remember that you exist. Just like your kids won’t in 20 years.

          • Kalysta@lemm.ee
            171·
            9 months ago

            I feel really bad for your children reading your responses here. You sound unhinged.